Home > Consumer Reviews > GE VG4275 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR

The recent death of my old RCA VCR coincided with Amazon's generous $20 off coupon to justify my purchase of a new VCR. I decided to upgrade to a four head machine with some useful features and found that GE's VG4275 filled the bill perfectly. I reviewed Amazon's excellent reference of what features and functions to look for in a new VCR and found that the VG4275 offered nearly all of them (a couple of features are apparently only available on very expensive machines and probably have limited value for most users anyway).

Upon receiving the VG4275, I found that hook up was relatively easy, although I did find that some of the setup items that were supposed to set automatically actually had to be set manually (for example, TIME was to set automatically but it did not do so and I had to manually enter the correct time). I also experienced the same problem that previous reviewer, Brian Malloy, did when trying to get the universal remote control that comes with the VCR to operate my television. Despite entering all of the codes listed for Sanyo, the VG4275 remote would not operate my 35 inch Sanyo. On the positive side, function quality is excellent in stop action, slow motion, rewind, etc. I have not yet tried the VCR Plus function. Picture quality and audio through my Sony stereo system is also excellent. The unit is attractive and the front audio/video ports are a nice feature.

On the negative side, one function that has been on every other VCR I have ever owned or seen but the VG4275 does not appear to offer is a continuous counter display. When you rewind a tape with the VG4275, the only display of your tape counter is on-screen by hitting the INFO button on your remote which shows the counter status for a few seconds only. To see where you are in your rewinding, you must hit INFO constantly to refresh the on-screen status. It's a pain.

Overall, the VG4275 is an excellent VCR for the money (especially if you have an Amazon $20 off coupon!), despite the few relatively minor inconveniences. If you are looking for a good quality, multi-function 4-head VCR at a reasonable price, this is definitely the one you want to buy.

I was looking for a basic Hi-Fi Stereo VCR for a reasonable price and found it in the GE VG4275 model. It has all the features to make movie viewing and recording enjoyable as well as easy. (slow motion, stop action, commercial skip, VCR plus and a fast rewind). The picture quality was good and the audio crisp and clear when hooked up to a home theater receiver. One problem I encountered however was the remote did not operate my Magnavox TV even though it had a lot of programming codes to make the universal remote work for that brand. ...you can't go wrong.

Nothing but trouble with this unit. It eats tapes. Motor does not sustain enough take-up pull. Excess tape unwinds inside. Be careful when you eject tapes also.

Consider me "electronic illiterate"!! I have had this VCR for about 5 years, and use its remote to contol my TV (my TV remote died!) It is SO SIMPLE to use!!! I can program it in a nano-second!!! Going out?? NO PROBLEM!!! It takes about 2 minutes to program, and that's for "Timer Recording"!! Love it!!!
Unfortunately, it "died" last week! Will no longer "turn"!! But, it had a good life,and served well!!!